Weiner and AMC Make Mad Men Pact

Weiner and AMC Make Mad Men Pact

Raise high the roof beam, carpenters! AMC, Lionsgate and Mad Men showrunner Matthew Weiner have made their deal to extend his contract for as much as $30 million if it goes to three seasons. He will remain in charge of the lucrative show starring Jon Hamm as Madison Avenue ad exec Don Draper. Variety’s Cynthia Littleton has the details:

The sides came to a compromise on the running time issue by settling in allowing the show to run at its standard 47-minute length for each season premiere and season finale. The 11 episodes in between will run 45 minutes, but Weiner will have the option of delivering a 47-minute version to be made available on VOD and ultimately on DVD. (There’s also been chatter about Lionsgate cutting a deal with Netflix for streaming rights to “Mad Men.”)

On the cast cost issue, it’s understood that the studio backed down a bit on its demand to contain the overall growth of cast budget in future seasons.

Unfortunately all the wrangling pushed the show back to March 2012 instead of this summer.